Broken Chargers Are Becoming America’s Next Big EV ChallengeAutoblogAnton AndresWed, September 16, 2026 at 12:15 PM UTCAdd us on GoogleAutoblog and Yahoo may earn commission from links in this article.The Charging InfrastructureCan America handle a more electrified automotive landscape? It's a question often asked, and for good reason. After all, 2050 appears to be the goal, when a majority of cars are plugged in, whether as plug-in hybrids or pure EVs. Mind you, the number of chargers isn't much of an issue now, as more have been installed over the years with new players coming in as well.The bigger picture here is adapting the infrastructure to support millions of vehicles plugging in. Yes, the U.S. has enough power, but the grid can get strained from time to time. It's a complex, multi-layered matter that's worth its own story, which just so happened to be covered previously. Seriously, it's worth a read.GMCharger Reliability is the Next ChallengeAs more motorists use charging stations, the new challenge is making the current infrastructure work reliably at scale. There are over 80,000 public charging stations across the country, but that number means little if many aren't working properly. It's an inconvenience for folks who need to get around, but incredibly costly for companies with EV fleets. Downtime means no activity, and no activity spells opportunity costs, among other things.AdvertisementAdvertisementIn a study done by ChargerHelp, charger recovery has become the next challenge in improving the EV infrastructure. As some stations age, the need for repairs and maintenance is becoming increasingly important.The study found that common charging problems are easier to identify and resolve, but it also means small but significant issues are "less obvious, more complex, and harder to diagnose." Those faults can make the charger inoperable or unsafe to use and give EV fleets fewer options to plug in.Pinpointing Sore PointsThe study found that charging issues requiring multiple work orders took a median of 32 days to resolve. Meanwhile, issues that required only a single visit still took about seven days to fully fix. That's not something fleets that rely on battery power can afford to have in their operations.Why does it take that long, you ask? In all fairness, diagnostics begin even before maintenance personnel are dispatched to a location, but some diagnoses take longer than others. Repeat repairs further extend a charger's time out of commission, and operational bottlenecks and constraints also play a role. Aging chargers also highlight the need for better long-term maintenance, since you can't simply add another charger to replace the old ones right away. Besides, that would be costly and wasteful.Coordination and Communication are KeyChargerHelp said this to speed up the process, and it largely boils down to coordination and communication. It's not just among maintenance teams, but also between charger manufacturers and the companies that keep them running. "It finds that reducing Mean Time to Repair (MTTR) depends more on improving visibility into charger health, accelerating diagnostics, and enabling stronger collaboration across hardware manufacturers, charging networks, software providers, service organizations, utilities, and site hosts," the study said.AdvertisementAdvertisementThe company's CEO, Kameale Terry, further added, "These are connected assets, and getting someone on site in two hours does not mean the problem is solved. Without the right data, permissions, manufacturer support or parts, a charger can still be down for days. As this infrastructure becomes more sophisticated and more integrated with distributed energy resource management systems and other smart energy assets, we need to understand much more about how these systems perform and interact. The industry needs better visibility into asset health and stronger coordination across the organizations responsible for keeping chargers operating reliably."Granted, these changes can't happen overnight, but they should nonetheless. Range anxiety is still a factor in why some consumers and fleet operators are reluctant to go full electric, and understandably so, even though cars go much further on a charge these days. It needs to be done quickly, too, as battery and powertrain technologies are also evolving rapidly.Getty ImagesThis story was originally published by Autoblog on Sep 16, 2026, where it first appeared in the News section. Add Autoblog as a Preferred Source by clicking here.